Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: Everything changes and nothing remains still
When I was little, I had extremely strict rules and expectations for my future: be a computer engineer like my father, start a nonprofit...
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: Ask yourself, why not?
Every morning before middle school, my mom would say to me: “Be kind, be courageous and don’t mumble.” Much of my college experience has...
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: A love letter to shared spaces
I grew up an only child, and it is safe to say that I came to college with a fear of shared spaces — communal bathrooms,...
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: An obvious metaphor between the moon mission and college
There’s a scene in Samantha Harvey’s 2023 book "Orbital" in which an astronaut on the International Space Station tells his daughter that progress is beautiful....
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: How to drink from a fire hydrant
My mom likes to say that sometimes life is like trying to drink water out of a fire hydrant. I think this is her...
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: From first-year roommates to dear friends
Culture editor Katie Moore and Opinions editor Shreya Srinivasan reflect on their college journey, starting as first-year roommates, staying in touch through the pandemic,...
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: How to get used to men, or not?
I don’t think I realized that my seven years of all-girls school had impacted me in any formative or traumatic way until I stepped...
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: How to know when to quit
I’m a master at the art of quitting. From baseball to Mandarin to fruitarianism, I’ve dedicated myself to every activity imaginable, only to quit...
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: How to find peace in the unknown
College has unsurprisingly been the best experience of my life — but not in the clichéd partying-five-nights-a-week and regret-filled reckless whirlwind many get to experience....
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: How to write frantically and uncover joy in every corner of the collegiate newsroom
On one sun-drenched, jasmine-perfumed April day four years ago, I picked up my first copy of The Occidental from a campus newsstand on Admitted...
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: How to learn from yourself
I often look back on my 18-year-old self as being a child. She was one in a lot of ways — naive, nervous, open-minded and idealistic. But...
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned: How to say ‘yes’ when you want to say ‘no’
My eye color and eye for photography are not the only things my father passed down to me. He also instilled in my growing...
